Reka Albert

Réka Albert is a Distinguished Professor of Physics and Biology at Pennsylvania State University, with affiliations to the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences, including the Center for Infectious Disease Dynamics, Bioinformatics and Genomics, and the Center for Mathematical Biology. Her research focuses on:

• Biological Physics
• Network Modeling
• Signal Transduction in Plant Guard Cells
• Ecological Community Analysis
• Boolean Network Dynamics

Research Trends: Her recent publications emphasize applications of nonlinear control and Boolean network modeling to biological systems, including plant signaling, cancer subtypes, and ecological networks. Notable trends include the integration of network medicine in traditional Chinese medicine analysis (2023), control theory in Boolean systems (2022), and the study of generalized feedback loops in plant-pollinator communities (2023).

Scientific Awards:

• Elected to the National Academy of Sciences (2025)
• Evan Pugh University Professorship (2024)
• Fellow of the American Physical Society
• Fellow of the Network Science Society
• Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science
• External member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences

Advising & Grants: She supervises Ph.D. candidates such as Eli Newby and Fatemeh Nasrollahi, with notable alumni including Jordan Rozum and Jorge Gómez Tejeda Zañudo. Current grants include NSF MCB 1715826 (Systems Biology of G-Protein Signaling), NSF IIS 1814405 (Network Curvature Analysis), and ARO MURI on disordered hyperuniform systems.